The surge of interest in Software-Defined Networking (SDN) continues unabated, with European companies contributing more than half the recent growth in Open Networking Foundation (ONF) membership.
ONF, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting SDN and its underlying technologies, added more than a dozen new members in the second quarter including: ADVA Optical Networking, Alcatel-Lucent, Argela Software (an arm of Turk Telekom), Colt Technology Services, France Telecom-Orange, Luxoft, and Telecom Italia.
“European companies are strong supporters of standards, and with OpenFlow, ONF is offering a truly standard approach to the fast-evolving world of Software-Defined Networking,” noted Dan Pitt, ONF’s executive director. “Another factor in our European growth is that SDN enables centralized control of traffic routing – the first reliable solution to the problems of data border control.”
European companies need to abide by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines on the protection of privacy and transborder flow of personal data, but the nature of IP transmission makes it difficult to ensure how data is routed, and whether data packets might be transmitted via other countries before reaching their destination. The OpenFlow standard, when coupled with straightforward, direct programming of network policy, makes it possible for the first time to ensure that sensitive data stays within national borders – and that is just one example of its potential for shaping traffic flow to meet specific business or security needs.
“The ONF is paving the way in revolutionizing today’s networks through SDN,” said Bulent Kaytaz, CEO of Argela. “Argela, as a global provider of distinguished, cutting edge and innovative turn-key telecom solutions, shares the same vision with the Foundation and believes that its sound experience in Intelligent Network Applications and Middleware Platforms will enrich and expedite the foundation’s throughputs in Controller and Services Management Area.”
“We are delighted to be a member of the ONF and actively contribute to these important changes in our industry,” said Luke Broome, CTO at Colt Technology Services. “Investing into network programmability is an important step towards smarter delivery of integrated network and compute services. This evolving model brings the network closer to the applications and will enable our customers to flex and consume their managed IT and network services in new ways.”
“The development of the OpenFlow standard represents a new evolution in policy-based orchestration for communication networks, and we are excited to join the rapidly growing ONF. We look forward to becoming a leading contributor to the development of this technology, and anticipate a wave of innovative applications and services in our customer base,” said Doru Mardare, Managing Director, Telecom Solutions at Luxoft. “Luxoft brings a unique combination of embedded software engineering services, test automation frameworks, and agile application development to the ONF community, so we look forward to contributing to the implementation of a wide range of revolutionary enterprise projects.”